Cherri V – Unapologetic Brown Skinned Singer-Songwriter
“Everybody got a path that you can never go back” – Alicia Keys
“I’m sorry if I, don’t come across like I’m here… forgive me now for sayin ‘Leave me be’!” – Cherri V
Brown Girl silent in the room woudn’t say a word
But her staring brown eyes could tell a whole story, eyes being open windows for soul (Brown Eyed Soul)
Story of a grown woman fighting fears and insecurities (Athazagoraphobia)
Unashamed of the look of her face in the glass (Girl In The Mirror)
Proud, she sings out loud in the glass, happy to finally be (Leave Me Be)
Times be hard, like a cherry stone
Sweet life tastes sometimes, like a cherry flesh
Beautiful ends up to be the journey, like a cherry blossom tree.
Cherri V’s anticipated debut solo album titled Brown Eyed Soul is about to take the music industry by storm in London.
Her first singles, Without You, Things You Do and Leave Me Be have been circling, getting more and more attention about this upcoming project.
A great vision and deep inspiration breathe behind this work.
Musically, this is about to be Cherri’s masterpiece, working with Grammy award winning producer Harmony (Jennifer Hudson, Maroon 5 and Ariana Grande), and top producer and keyboard player Hannah V (Rihanna, Jessie J, Jason Derulo, Taio Cruz).
She manages to offer music that’s as dancing as light, soothing and stripped-down – it’s a vibe, it’s a dance solo, it’s a self-giving hug song. Her single Leave Me Be is a self-celebration.
You can appreciate her collaborations with Hannah along acoustic versions for Without You and Leave Me Be, perfect rendition of unapologetic emotions which ends with a fading jazzy outro on the piano that pictures her mind setting free.
What Cherri V addresses along her songs is not solely about love and relationship. The album actually deals with individuality and self-esteem constantly challenged by social pressure, precisely colorism.
She’s got talent when it comes to sing about different types of individual vulnerebilities with so much honesty throughout her songwriting.
Back in 2016, she released an EP titled Athazagoraphobia, which means “fear of being forgotten or ignored”.
Colorism is a discrimination based on skin color in which people are treated differently based on the social meanings attached to skin color.
As would say Kendrick Lamar, “complexion don’t mean a thing, it all feels the same”.
In 2018 she’s giving the tale of her insecurities through the eyes of a red-haired and brown-skinned girl – call her “chocolate martini”.
The girl in the mirror took a look at herself, not afraid to look into her eyes, and acknowledge her story and identity.
Firstly dscovered on Sounds So Beautiful with her duo Dora Martin, formed with Jermaine Rikey, name inspired by Dora The Explorer (initiatory journey) and Martin Luther King (Black History), this is not the first time Cherri Voncelle sings about blackness.
